The year is coming to an end. It is a year that has been marred with many challenges that have left many people on the edge. As we welcome 2022, many are hopeful that the year will come bearing good fortunes.
Our country will be going to the general election in the next seven months.
Candidates for various elective positions are traversing various parts of the country to familiarise voters with their next leaders, ahead of the start of the official campaign period.
Leaders are required by law to act with the utmost decorum and adhere to integrity.
The recent utterances by Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala are both unwarranted and in bad taste.
During the annual Maragoli Festivals in Vihiga, the Senator vowed to disrupt a meeting organised by Francis Atwoli, meant to entice voters to Presidential candidate, Raila Odinga.
This is bad precedence as the remarks border on incitement.
It should be condemned in the strongest terms possible by all peace-loving Kenyans.
Senator Malala has since surrendered to police after a summon by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission.
He regretted his ill-fated remarks and pledged to maintain peace.
The lawmaker should face the full force of the law, the apology notwithstanding.
This will act as a deterrent on individuals with such intentions, likely to breed mayhem in future.
In 2007, inflammatory remarks by some politicians sparked inter-community violence in the country that resulted in 1,133 casualties, at least 350,000 internally displaced persons, 2,000 refugees and destruction of property worth millions.
The 2007 conflicts led to the formation of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission.
Its main mandate is to facilitate and promote equality of opportunity, good relations, harmony and peaceful co-existence between persons of different ethnic and racial communities of Kenya.
The commission has on several occasions gone for the hate mongers and those inciting communities to violence especially during the electioneering period.
This has, however, failed to bear fruit as many of those arrested have been set free due to a lack of sufficient evidence.
There’s still a big challenge in drawing the line between, freedom of expression and hate speech or incitement to violence.
It is the weakest link in the fight against incitement to violence during the electioneering period.
Every Kenyan has a right to live in any part of the country at any given moment.
Similarly, every candidate going for an elective seat has a right to sell their agenda in any part of the country without being blocked by anyone.
To enhance peaceful co-existence and smooth elections, we need to sound a clarion call to all leaders in the country.
In the run-up to the 2022 polls, they should preach peace and reconciliation. Incitement and hate speech should be a thing of the past.
NCIC should be given more powers to help arrest hate mongers.
The commission should tour the country during the electioneering period and sensitise different communities on the importance of peaceful co-existence.
The government should form a multi-agency team to help fight the malaise of hate speech and incitement to violence.
Politicians should be monitored during political gatherings to pick out those promoting the vice.
This should also be extended to social media without infringing on their right to free speech.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
